Passage of the Day: January 2011

Monday, January 31, 2011

Passage of the Day - January 31, 2011

Acts 23:1-5

¹Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, "Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day."

²The high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth.

³Then Paul said to him, "God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?"

⁴But the bystanders said, "Do you revile God's high priest?"

⁵And Paul said, "I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.'"

How does the Law of God jive with our American revolutionist patriot traditions? Do we speak evil against our rulers? Where is that line between our civic duty to question our leaders and our Christian duty to not speak evil of our leaders? Some things to ponder.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)

Passage of the Day - January 30, 2011

Acts 22:25-30

²⁵But when they stretched him out with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?"

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman."

²⁷The commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" And he said, "Yes."

²⁸The commander answered, "I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money." And Paul said, "But I was actually born a citizen."

²⁹Therefore those who were about to examine him immediately let go of him; and the commander also was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had put him in chains.

³⁰But on the next day, wishing to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the Council to assemble, and brought Paul down and set him before them.

The centurion was fearful because he was being unjust to a person of stature within the society he chose to be a part of. He had no fear when he was being unjust to a person who had no stature within the centurion's society. How differently would we treat people we interacted with on a daily basis if we knew them or if we knew that they knew our friends or family?

Passage of the Day - January 29, 2011

Acts 22:17-24

¹⁷"It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance,

¹⁸and I saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.'

¹⁹"And I said, 'Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in You.

²⁰'And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.'

²¹"And He said to me, 'Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"

²²They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!"

²³And as they were crying out and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air,

²⁴the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, stating that he should be examined by scourging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way.

It was all fun and games until Paul put Gentiles on even spiritual footing as the Jews. We can have the same attitudes in a way. We can view our ministries as helping the less fortunate, sharing the gospel with the people of different nations, or nurturing children. But do we view these people as our equals? Would we treat them as friends? Invite them into our homes? Have a meal with them and not merely provide them a meal? How much better than the Jews of that day are we really?

Passage of the Day - January 28, 2011

Acts 22:6-16

⁶"But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me,

⁷and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'

⁸"And I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.'

⁹"And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me.

¹⁰"And I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, 'Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.'

¹¹"But since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

¹²"A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,

¹³came to me, and standing near said to me, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very time I looked up at him.

¹⁴"And he said, 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth.

¹⁵'For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶'Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.'

Our calling is laid out in scripture. We see the spiritual and physical needs of ourselves, our family, and other people. Are we going to sit and think about it some more? Why do we delay? Get up, be baptized, wash away our sins calling on His name and GET TO WORK!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Passage of the Day - January 27, 2011

Acts 22:1-5

¹"Brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you."

²And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he said,

³"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today.

⁴"I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons,

⁵as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify From them I also received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.

Isn’t it amazing how God can even use our evil past for His future glory? We should not hide our past because it is part of God’s story of redemption. Our past is our shame, but redemption for it is God’s glory! When we hide our past, we put our shame above God’s glory.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Passage of the Day - January 26, 2011

Acts 21:31-40

³¹While they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion.

³²At once he took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done.

³⁴But among the crowd some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.

³⁵When he got to the stairs, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob;

³⁶for the multitude of the people kept following them, shouting, "Away with him!"

³⁷As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, "May I say something to you?" And he said, "Do you know Greek?

³⁸"Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?"

³⁹But Paul said, "I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people."

⁴⁰When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand; and when there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect, saying,

You know, the Christian Church can sound a lot like this. Utter confusion. We can’t agree on many issues such as baptism, communion, music, church government, paths to heaven, same-sex marriage, Bible translations, the roles of church vs. government, etc. This utter confusion has allowed many lies and half-truths to be able to enter in. Paul could have been a great blessing to the Jews, but due to the lies and confusion, he wasn’t allowed to be a blessing. I wonder how many blessings we forsake due to our confusion and disunity.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Passage of the Day - January 25, 2011

Acts 21:27-30

²⁷When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him,

²⁸crying out, "Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place."

²⁹For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

³⁰Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.

As we have seen in recent days, quite often the seriousness of the crime tends to outweigh the preponderance of the evidence. Paul was being misconstrued and accused of things that he had no part in. The victimhood of Paul and all Christians is evident in this passage, but my question is, how quickly do we jump to conclusions about others and believe the lies and half-truths lobbed against them. We ought to defend the falsely accused. How do we go about that? Encourage truth, and not innuendo, to reign. Encourage patience when seeking justice. Encourage justice and mercy, not vilification and vengeance. In other words, do what God does.

Passage of the Day - January 24, 2011

Acts 21:15-26

¹⁵After these days we got ready and started on our way up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us, taking us to Mnason of Cyprus, a disciple of long standing with whom we were to lodge.

¹⁷After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.

¹⁸And the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.

¹⁹After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law;

²¹and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.

²²"What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

²³"Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow;

²⁴take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law.

²⁵"But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication."

²⁶Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.

One of the purposes of the Law was to set Israel apart from the rest of the world. It was Israel that circumcised their sons. It was Israel that had strict dietary laws. It was Israel that had strict sexual laws. It was Israel that had strict worship laws. It was Israel that was God’s chosen people. We, as followers of Christ, have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and are thus set apart from the rest of the world. It is Christ’s Church that serves the orphans and the widows. It is Christ’s Church that serves the world. It is Christ’s Church that that brings glory to God and Christ through their characteristics shining in them through the Holy Spirit – faith, hope, and love. Although adherence to the Law is good, the Law is not what sets us apart from the world; Christ is.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Passage of the Day - January 23, 2011

Acts 21:1-14

¹When we had parted from them and had set sail, we ran a straight course to Cos and the next day to Rhodes and from there to Patara;

²and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

³When we came in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to Syria and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload its cargo.

⁴After looking up the disciples, we stayed there seven days; and they kept telling Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem.

⁵When our days there were ended, we left and started on our journey, while they all, with wives and children, escorted us until we were out of the city After kneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another.

⁶Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home again.

⁷When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and after greeting the brethren, we stayed with them for a day.

⁸On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and entering the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we stayed with him.

⁹Now this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses.

¹⁰As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says: 'In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'"

¹²When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."

¹⁴And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, "The will of the Lord be done!"

God must be glorified no matter what. Our mission must be fulfilled no matter what. We must remain faithful no matter what. I struggle with this at times. I may have mentioned this before, but I often wonder what is the difference between a closed door and a test of faith. The Holy Spirit told Paul through Agabus that he would be bound and delivered to the Gentiles. Paul didn't take this as a sign that he shouldn't go. He took this as a fact of his ministry. For me, his faith is impressive, but equally is his determination.

Passage of the Day - January 22, 2011

Acts 20:33-38

³³"I have coveted no one's silver or gold or clothes.

³⁴"You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me.

³⁵"In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

³⁶When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

³⁷And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him,

³⁸grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again And they were accompanying him to the ship.

Paul was able to avoid being accused of being a charlatan by not asking for a dime from the Ephesians. Would it have been wrong to ask for money? No. However, he assured his reputation by not asking for it. There are many things in this world and choices that we make that are not sinful, but can rightly or wrongly damage our reputation. We must continually be mindful of how our choices are perceived and what kind of a picture of Christ our choices paint in the minds of others.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Passage of the Day - January 21, 2011

Acts 20:32

³²"And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

These are some of the greatest parting words I have ever heard. I will probably use this verse some day.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)

Passage of the Day - January 20, 2011

Acts 20:26-31

²⁶"Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.

²⁷"For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.

²⁸"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

²⁹"I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;

³⁰and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

³¹"Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

This is one of the passages of the Bible that can be perverted into legalism. Leaders of churches can use this passage as justification for putting up fences around their church members. They can give them some boundaries by which to live. This is not a bad thing. The leaders of churches are supposed to protect their flock. However, what are the fences, how were they devised, and where were they placed? Are they based upon the protections and guidelines laid out in scripture? Or are they protections to foster the kind of "good lifestyle" that the leader has determined in his own mind as ideal?

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Passage of the Day - January 19, 2011

Acts 20:13-25

¹³But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go by land.

¹⁴And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene.

¹⁵Sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos; and the day following we came to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.

¹⁸And when they had come to him, he said to them, "You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews;

²⁰how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,

²¹solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

²²"And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

²³except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.

²⁴"But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.

²⁵"And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.

This is what it means to be dead to self. Paul was going where he would endure no person in his right mind would willingly endure. But Paul did not value his life the way the rest of us do. He was willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of Christ’s name being glorified. He was marching to the torture chamber and he knew it. We was acting in obedience to the Spirit. How much of ourselves are we truly willing to yield in order to obey God and glorify His Son?

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Passage of the Day - January 18, 2010

Acts 20:1-12

¹After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and when he had exhorted them and taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia.

²When he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece.

³And there he spent three months, and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

⁴And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

⁵But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas.

⁶We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.

⁸There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together.

⁹And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, "Do not be troubled, for his life is in him."

¹¹When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left.

¹²They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.

God's grace extends even to those who sleep during church and are unwise enough to sit in a windowsill listening to a sermon at midnight. Perhaps there is a deeper meaning to this passage, but how can you not get a kick out of it? I just read Matthew Henry's commentary and wow does he take a different view!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Passage of the Day - January 17, 2011

Acts 19:31-41

³¹Also some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to venture into the theater.
³²So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together.
³³Some of the crowd concluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward; and having motioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the assembly.
³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single outcry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
³⁵After quieting the crowd, the town clerk said, "Men of Ephesus, what man is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image which fell down from heaven?
³⁶"So, since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash.
³⁷"For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.
³⁸"So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against any man, the courts are in session and proconsuls are available; let them bring charges against one another.
³⁹"But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the lawful assembly.
⁴⁰"For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today's events, since there is no real cause for it, and in this connection we will be unable to account for this disorderly gathering."
⁴¹After saying this he dismissed the assembly.

Verse 37 is the key verse here. We are to give glory to God, not attack other faiths. Are they equal, not in the least, but when engaging other peoples, it is wise to not unnecessarily anger them by bad mouthing their religion. We are to be despised and martyred for our faith, not sentenced to death for illegally blaspheming another faith. We must choose our words and methods carefully.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Passage of the Day - January 16, 2011

Acts 19:21-30

²¹Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome."

²²And having sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

²³About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way.

²⁴For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen;

²⁵these he gathered together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business.

²⁶"You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all.

²⁷"Not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence."

²⁸When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

²⁹The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia.

All wars are fought over religion and/or money. Usually, its money. Therefore it is no surprise that Demetrius stirred up the tradesman and the people in order to maintain their cash cow. When the message of Christ interfered with their money, they fought tooth and nail against it? What is our reaction to the message of Christ when it interferes with our money?

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Passage of the Day - January 15, 2011

Acts 19:18-20

¹⁸Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices.
¹⁹And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
²⁰So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.

When we, as Christians, become convicted of some material item we own being sinful for us to own (e.g. certain cds, dvds, magazines, etc.), we should not decide to get rid of it by selling it or giving it away. Instead, we should destroy it so its sinfulness (evil) cannot affect anyone else. Sounds legalistic? Deep down, what do you think Christ would really say? Actually, what has He already said on the matter?

Friday, January 14, 2011

Passage of the Day - January 14, 2011

Acts 19:13-17

¹³But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches."

¹⁴Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

¹⁵And the evil spirit answered and said to them, "I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?"

¹⁶And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

¹⁷This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.

This passage shows that merely knowing about Christ is not the same as faith. Jesus is King and don’t try to invoke the King’s authority when you are not a subject of His kingdom. If we are not connected to the vine, we are completely useless. In addition, it was through the Holy Spirit, not merely the name of Jesus, that God performed these miracles.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Passage of the Day - January 13, 2011

Acts 19:11-12

¹¹God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,

¹²so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.

We can ask why doesn’t this happen anymore. Why do we not see miracles of physical and spiritual healing like this now? I struggle with this, but I noticed something in this passage. God acted through Paul’s handkerchiefs that other people brought to the sick. He acted through the faith of Paul and the faith of those delivering the handkerchiefs. However, it was by the hands of Paul that the miracles happened, not the deliverers. It appears those that delivered the handkerchiefs were not having miracles performed by God through their hands. They obviously had faith, but that didn’t automatically mean that God would perform miracles through them. We can’t make the miracles of the Early Church normative, nor can we say that God absolutely does not still do this today.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Passage of the Day - January 12, 2011

Acts 19:8-10

⁸And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

⁹But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.

¹⁰This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

There is no point in arguing with someone who speaks evil of Christ, especially in front of others. No good can come from it. We are called to share and discuss with non-believers and come to the defense of the gospel, but not arguing with those who speak evil of Christ. We must remember the whole point of life is to get God glorified, not blasphemed.